The Coven: Destiny
by whereismywig
Summary: The Coven, having taken on the Charmed One's destiny to fight evil until Wyatt and Chris come of age, must find a way to balance their lives with their new burden. Please R&R. CH 5 & 6 up.
1. Puppies are Cute

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

This story (which I hope to develop into an ongoing series) takes place a week after season 7's finale. It (obviously) is set in an alternate universe. The Elders have discovered the Charmed Ones surviving the explosion, but instead of punishing them…they give them an offer through the Angel of Destiny. All the chapters will have weird titles, so bear with me.

_Chapter 1: Puppies Are Cute_

As another car passed by Heatherwood Park, Sidney Douglass kept on walking in circles. He took quiet breaths and was almost silent, though he was feeling unsettled. Every sound that rang through the park was picked up by the 16-year-old's sensitive ears. Sidney heard nothing but the rustling of dead leaves and Rook rustling to get out of his leash he was attached to. Much to the assurance of everyone else, he still was uneasy about using his golden retriever as demon bait.

His cell phone vibrated and he quickly picked it up. Lowering his voice to a point where it was barely audible.

"Can you remind me why we're after dog-eating demons?" he asked, somewhat angrily. "And why we're using Rook?"

Taylor Cross rolled her eyes and peaked out from behind the tree. Hiding there was relatively easy because of her stick-thin figure. "It's not that we _have_ to get them for their diet, but we gotta stop them from killing or turning the dog owners. And you're the only one of us who has a dog."

"Sis, cut him some slack," Peter started. His voice progressively got louder as he spoke. "We did just drag him out of school to make potions."

"Could you _be _any less quiet, Pete?" Taylor hissed quietly. Their three-way calls always ended in Peter and Taylor squabbling.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Could you be any less of a _whore_?"

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Both of you, shut up. Rook's feeling something…they're almost here, so get ready," Sidney said, getting ready to hang up. "On a side-note, please pull me out of class more often. Trig's sooooo boring."

Sidney put his phone back in his jean jacket's pocket and breathed in the autumn air. He squatted and pretended to urge his retriever to do his business, putting a plastic bag over his hand. Beginning to whistle the ending theme of the "Hulk" TV-series, he heard the stifled laughter of Peter and Taylor in the distance with his enhanced hearing. With that, he heard three sets of footsteps—exactly what they were waiting for. Sidney turned around.

Before him stood three dark-haired demons. They all were snarling and it seemed that their skin was made up of countless patches of fur sewn together. Sidney looked disgusted and kneeled. With his eyes glued on to the oncoming fiends, he smiled sweetly as he scratched Rook's ears quickly and told him to run to the truck.

"Let's rock, uglies."

* * *

The Charmed Ones sat and looked at the image before them as they sat in their small hotel room. Their eyes were fixated, almost never blinking. 

Phoebe bit her index finger and tried to think of something to say, processing the image of a young man savagely beating down an ugly, furry demon. He was fighting in jeans and flip flops, which furthers his appearance of being rather young (despite being around 6 feet tall). His eyes were slanted and green, hair black, skin fair and build lanky. The boy moved quickly and hit hard, using his clawed hands as if he were a tiger. Phoebe sat amazed as he ripped off a mass of the demon's neck. Its body dissolved into a puddle of black.

"He's not just a child," the Angel of Destiny told the girls. "He has the rare power of taking on animal traits and he is growing into his empathic gifts."

"How long has he been at it? I mean, being a witch that is?" Paige asked, wondering if they should go and help them.

The Angel of Destiny knew the Charmed Ones fretted with his proposition. He told the Charmed Ones to keep watching the scene that was taking place in real time. The scene jumped to two other people, who jumped in on the fighting. The girl stood at just 5 feet and 6 inches and was a striking woman. She shared brown eyes with her brother, but was blonde. Her brother was four inches taller than her, but was more built than the younger man before. His chestnut brown hair was slicked back and it seemed he had an eternal smirk on his face.

"The boy has grown with the craft all his life. His parents are witches and he has fully embraced his being and his gifts, which is something at 16 years. Not to offend you three, but he would have been much more prepared than you were at your beginnings if he were in your shoes at 12."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige threw a look at the Angel, who laughed heartily.

"I'm not exactly lying," he told them with a smile.

"And how old are these two? _Seventeen_?" Piper asked sarcastically. "We might as well be asking fetuses."

"Peter is 22. His sister Taylor is 25. While they don't' have the same upbringing as the boy, they're seasoned witches," the Angel told them.

The girls watched as the two were fighting the remaining, throwing energy balls. Peter teleported in a flash before any of their projectiles touched him, then reappearing in the same spot. Taylor, who remained stationary, defended herself by turning the energy balls into ice. The two worked well together. The girl tossed ice shards seamlessly to distract the demons while her brother tossed her a vial of red liquid, which they threw. Unlike the other one, the potion caused them to explode.

"Ni-i-i-ce," Phoebe said, nodding her head in approval. Piper slapped her arm and shook her head.

Paige sighed and looked at the Angel. She, as well as both of her sisters, still was uncomfortable with what the Angel was offering. It would give them freedom, but could they really ask others who voluntarily give up that freedom to tie it with their destiny? They couldn't answer that, but they still wanted to know. "When are you going to ask them?"

"Oh, no, Paige. The three of _you _are going to do that."

* * *

"I like to shop," Sidney said as he looked down at himself. His jacket was in shreds while his shirt was stained in the black liquid one would have to assume was the demon's blood. "But I really don't like having to replace all these clothes every time we do sweeps. I _loved _this shirt." 

Peter and Taylor didn't escape being soiled either. Their clothes were covered in chunks of dog-eating demon flesh from the explosion. The smell wasn't the most pleasant smell either. Sidney, whose sense of smell was high too, shifted back to normal. His nails shrunk back, but his teeth stayed. His powers were slowly progressing, but he wasn't at the point where he could revert back to normal immediately.

"At least your disposable incomes can cover those replacements," Taylor said, trying to take off the biggest pieces off of her. "I certainly can't afford it so often on a bookseller's salary."

"Or a waiter's," Peter chimed in. He flashed just himself then reappeared about a foot away so that all of the pieces on him dropped to the ground. It was unfortunate for him that his shirt was still stained. "Let's go home so I could shower. I got a date tonight."

Taylor decided to stop trying to get all of the pieces of her and started walking to her car. "Sid, can you make sure that Rook doesn't…make…in the truck again?"

"He won't do it again. Last time was an accident. You kept stopping so that made him nervous," Sidney explained as he took off the remnants of his jacket and put them in the nearby trash.

"Why can't you take your own car?" Peter asked, drooling at the image of the 16-year-old's Aston Martin. He took off his shirt, revealing a rather nice body. His sister and Sidney both wondered why Peter ends up shirtless almost everyday.

"'Cause…" the young one began. "We've already designated that the truck is the Coven-mobile."

Finally in the truck, Taylor put in the keys and started the engine. She put down the truck's windows and told the golden retriever in the back to stop biting her rope.

"Get in the car," she shouted. "And stop calling it the Coven-mobile. It's _really _lame."


	2. Earl Gray in the Afternoon

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

_Chapter 2: Earl Gray in the Afternoon_

The ride to 429 Westover Circle was a mostly silent one for the Halliwell sisters. Paige was in the driver's seat of the rental car, concentrating on the road while her sisters sat wondering how they should say what they needed to. From time to time, they would look at each other, but they couldn't find the words. It had been days since they've put on their glamours, but they supposed they didn't need them anymore.

When Paige pulled up at the gate, the three felt uneasy at the guard's presence. Phoebe whispered a short spell and they passed through, unseen, phasing through the iron gates themselves.

"Wow," Phoebe sighed as she gazed upon the grand homes of the complex they had entered. It was called Ashen Grove. The three saw huge front yards and luxury sedans outside the presumably filled garages everywhere they turned. The only ones outside were yard workers and the elderly who were in the community tennis courts. "Swanky."

"At least this Sidney could probably afford constant house renovations," Piper mused, with a smile.

Paige finally spotted the house. It was relatively small compared to the surrounding houses, but it was still huge compared to anyplace else. The Douglass residence was a 2-story home made of grey stone. There were French windows everywhere and the yard was immaculate. Not a leaf on the ground from the few oaks that were planted there, though fall had turned their leaves orange and red. The 4-car garage door was open revealing a red Honda Pilot and a sloppily parked Aston Martin Vanquish. A white truck was also there, but it wasn't in the garage.

She looked at Piper sternly. "They haven't decided anything yet…so don't get your hopes up."

"I'm just saying," the oldest sister began as the youngest one parked outside. "It would've been nice to be…this affluent during our demon fighter days."

"Can't argue with her there," Phoebe jumped in.

* * *

Sidney looked at himself through the mirror as he tried to look for any pieces of demon flesh that may have stuck onto his skin that the shower he had taken had missed. Thankfully, there was none. Before he put his bathrobe back on, he took one good look at himself. The 16-year-old could not help but scrutinize every square inch of his body. 

His eyes were green like his father, Mark. He had been told that he was lucky because there was only a miniscule chance that he'd have an eye color other than brown like most that have Asian blood in them. Apart from the eyes, facial structure and towering height, Sidney didn't inherit much else form his father physically. His mother, Misono, gave him everything else—a head of thick, black hair, pale skin and a gorgeous set of choppers. He was a good looking kid, but the boy couldn't shake off the heaviness from the miniscule amount of shame he felt for disregarding his mother's side most of the time.

"Sid," Pete called out, voice slightly muffled through the door. He had been looking through Mr. Douglass' Book of Shadows fruitlessly. "Some people are coming up

* * *

to the door." 

Sidney opened the bathroom door and grabbed the shirt and jeans that were nearby. "Who is it?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you they're hot," he started. "Seriously, man…they're hot."

* * *

"The Charmed Ones," Taylor said, smirking. "And I'm Oprah. Oh, better yet—two thirds of Destiny's Child. I don't know how that's possible, but I don't know how possible it is for you three to be the Charmed Ones." 

"Why is it so hard to believe?" Piper asked, patiently waiting to be let in the house.

A laugh escaped from the girl. "'Cause you died like last week."

"Oh," Phoebe went as the three remembered that everyone else thinks they're kaput. "Well, we really didn't die."

"Ri-i-ight. Prove it or else I'll assume you're demons. I'll have to vanquish you if I start assuming."

Piper groaned and rolled her eyes. She pointed outside where some birds were fluttering around the rear-view mirror of their rental car. She lifted her hands and pushed forward. Seemingly stopped in time, the birds' movement had been frozen. Without saying another word, she pointed to Taylor and nodded as if she were teaching a child something. She motioned her hand again, but she did not freeze.

Two minutes of painstaking silence, Taylor didn't say anything. As they stood waiting outside, tapping their feet, the Charmed Ones spotted Sidney coming down his spiral staircase. He looked at them and his eyes widened.

"What the hell, Taylor!" he screamed. "Do you know who they are? It's the Charmed Ones! Stop being rude and let them in…they're not some friggin' vacuum salesmen."

Taylor's eyes widened too. She realized her stupidity. She opened the door fully and moved out of the way.

"Thank you!" Paige screamed back.

* * *

The Charmed Ones sat down in the kitchen with Taylor and Peter. Sidney was pacing back and forth, trying to catch his breath. He had only seen Phoebe from reading her syndicated column, a favorite of his, but he automatically assumed the other two were her sisters. His smile was quite large and toothy as the others had noticed. 

"Tea?" he asked with a perky voice. "Coffee cake? Ice Cream? I have Chunky Monkey—it's my favorite. Or maybe fruit?"

Piper shut her eyes and shook her head. "Not right now, but maybe later."

"Why did you come?" Pete asked, admiring Paige's striking beauty. As much of a lothario he was, he was reserved in making a move on a Charmed One.

"One question first—how did you know who we were?" Paige asked.

"Ask Phoebe," he answered as he went under the island counter to grab some tea cups and plates. Before any confusion started, Sidney decided to finish his thought. "Phoebe's column. My parents said that Ask Phoebe was a Charmed One…so I assumed."

Phoebe nodded and grabbed her cup politely. "Do you any Earl Gray or Green? I prefer green, though. But first…we came here for a very important reason."

Taylor was too embarrassed to say anything. As much as she'd hate to admit it, Pete was right. She was kind of a bitch sometimes. She got out of her chair and went to the pantry to grab the tin of green tea bags.

"The Angel of Destiny and the Elders have an offer for you three…the Coven," Paige began, nervously. "The entire world—"

"Except for you three," Phoebe cut in shortly.

"The entire world," Paige continued. "They think we're dead. You'd think that all those demons in the Underworld would try and do something…but they aren't for some reason. Well, we're told that it will only stay calm for a short while."

Piper put on a motherly face and looked at Sidney who was listening intensely. "'They' decided that…we need to get our boys—the next generation in our line—prepared. If you decide to take us up on our offer, we'll be able to go back into the world with a new slate."

"Offer?" Taylor asked.

"Keep in mind that we wanted to approach you first. Be warned—the Elders would've just done it without telling you. Anyway, here it goes: The Elders want you, until my nephews come into age, to bear our destiny as major players in the battle between good and evil."

"Wait—what? We'll be the Charmed Ones?" Peter asked confused and somewhat excited.

"No," Phoebe told him. "Not exactly. You'll still be who you are—the Coven—but you'll be able to inherit our good karma. Your powers will be able to grow faster than they would be if you were ordinary witches. You'll gain our knowledge and, if you want, we'll stay in King's Peak."

"You'll go down in history," Paige added.

"But, if you decide to take this on…you'll get all the bad that comes with it," Piper warns the three. "Demons will target you. Hunting them won't be optional. Life will be much harder to balance. It'd be hard to make sure that demon hunting won't consume your lives."

Phoebe got up her seat and took two tea bags from the tin and let it seep in her cup of hot water. She tucked the loose hairs behind her ears, and looked at her sisters. The light was getting dim and she saw that it was nearing 5 pm. "We have two days to reach a decision. You have two days to decide whether or not you'll tie your destiny to ours."

There was a silence. Sidney was leaning against the refrigerator looking at the ground. Taylor went to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Peter moved closer to Paige and gave her his _look_. Smiling nervously, Paige looked away to make sure she wasn't blushing.

"Why did they choose us?" Taylor spoke up. "I'm sure there are more powerful witches in the world."

"We don't know," Piper told them. "It sounds kind of bad to say this, but I think proximity has a lot to do with this."

"Proximity?" Peter asked. "Because of we're we live?"

"Our home was on top of the Nexus…a point of power for whatever side holds it. We destroyed it," she continued. "The Angel of Destiny said that King's Peak is like the next major battleground for the war between good and evil."

Another long silence.

"When can we start?" Sidney asked. Pete and Taylor just stared at him.


	3. Sweet Pants

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

_Chapter 3: Sweet Pants_

The Charmed Ones stood at the door. Piper was in the center while the other two kept their hands on the door. There was a sad look on her face, though she knew if they accepted the offer, she could see her sons. They faced the Coven and looked at each other. Sidney was all smiles, but everyone else had a contemplative look on their face.

"Obviously, you need some time to think about this," Piper said. "I gave you all out contact info, right?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah. Look, sorry about…before."

"Don't worry about it. We would've done the same thing—we've had some run-ins with some _major_ identity thefts," Phoebe told her, reminiscing about the time when their identities were stolen by three blonde witches. "But that's a story for another time."

"Well, you guys…it's getting late," Paige put in. "I better go warm up the car."

Peter made a bold move and inched forward. "'Night, sweet pants."

He received a look from _everyone. _Paige had some contorted look on her face while her sisters were just about to burst with laughter. Sidney and Taylor had their mouths opened in shock.

"Pete!" they both yelled. Sidney, who was nearest, punched him in the arm hard. "_What is wrong with you_!"

"Goodbye," Paige began. She immediately orbed out and into her car, not wanting to walk and have Peter stare at her ass.

In a friendly manner, Phoebe stepped forward and gave Sidney a hug. "You should really talk to your parents about this…"

Sidney shook his head. He saw Piper wave goodbye as she made her way to the car. Thankfully, she didn't have to deal with the threat of Peter Cross' lecherous eyes. "It's my destiny…not theirs."

* * *

"Dad!" Sidney said, raising his voice. "They're not asking _you_! They're asking _me_!" 

Peter and Taylor decided to stay until the Douglasses came home. They were quite annoyed with Sidney's over-zealousness and his being rash about the Charmed Ones' offer. Conversation after conversation, the three got nowhere. It usually started with young one telling the two siblings how great it would be to be the save the world and be the witches that the Charmed Ones are, to which he was replied with the risks of death and how much harder his life would be. Not a word got through.

"Mom…you were fighting demons when you were my age," he said, looking at Misono. The clock read 11:22. It was getting quite late. "Why can't I?"

"That was many years ago. It was different back then," she started. She was sitting at the table with Taylor. "It was my family's duty to protect Japan. And I didn't do it alone."

"I have Pete and Taylor!" the boy yelled. "The Coven!"

"It's not about that. You're 16 years old. You have your whole life ahead of you, son," Mark cut in. "It's great that you love being a witch, but it was hard enough to let you join a coven and go hunting. To take on the job of the Charmed Ones…Sidney, you could die."

"Listen to them, Sid," Pete said burying his weary face in his arms. He was ready to fall asleep. "Sid…we have enough trouble with low-level demons that the Charmed Ones could take down with a flick of the finger…but fighting the great evils they've fought?"

"We won't have that 'power of three' of theirs," Taylor told him. She sipped some of her water as sweat rolled down her face.

"Our powers will grow," Sidney tried to tell them. "We'll get strong enough to face them…"

"Sidney," his mother began. "The Charmed Ones have done the whole word so much good and I'm not discrediting them for that…but as much as they have done…I think it should still be their burden to carry, not yours."

"Why do you want this so much?" Mark asked his son. "Is it the power? The adventure? Sidney…"

"No, Dad," he replied. "No…"

"Then why?"

"Because, Dad. Peter, Taylor…Mom," he began, with his eyes watering as he tried to gather his word. "I don't want to die never doing something for the greater good. Being born a witch is a gift."

He took in a deep breath and looked his friends and parents. They were silent. "_It's a gift_. We were given powers for a reason—to do something with them. Yeah…I've taken down some demons that eat dogs and demons that break in to museums to steal useless artifacts. But what happened after? A couple of people are saved, some useless crap stays behind glass. Then they come back. They always do."

"We do what we could—" Taylor started. She was cut off by Sidney.

"Taylor, I'm talking," he said. His eyes were sad. "Sorry…but you have got to hear me out. I don't want to be sentenced to a life where I had the chance to change this world…maybe save it. I don't understand why you don't want that. Sure, we'll get hunted. I won't go to a few parties that I'm invited to. I'll have to watch out for demons in the mall. But…shouldn't we already be doing it anyway? That's why I joined the coven…to do some good. Why are all of you against that?"

There was silence, but Sidney felt that he had reached them.

"Dammit," Sidney said. He looked up at the high ceilings of his home and wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Pete, if you ever want to be within a meter of Paige, don't call ever use 'sweet pants' around her ."


	4. DoggyStyle

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

:Quillsandbolts—thanks for reading! You may be the only one in the audience, but you're at least one of them. Thank you, thank you.

_Chapter 4: Doggy-Style_

"Why, exactly, don't you three have a whitelighter?" Phoebe asked, very curious. She earmarked one of the pages in Mark's book that had a potion to remove any kind of stain from any clothing. The girls certainly wanted to add that to their very famous Book of Shadows.

Sidney smiled and flipped through his mother's book of shadows idly. The Charmed Ones were looking through his father's, and he imagined that they couldn't learn anything from hers (all of it is Japanese text-heavy, with barely any pictures) without a little bit of assistance. "My dad or his family never actually actively fought demons because they are solely empaths. My mom and her family refused to have one 'cause they had these ancestral spirit-things they relied on. I was approached to have one last year when I joined the Coven…but I told them I didn't need one."

"We had one," Taylor began. "But Peter tried to…umm…get with her and I guess the Big Guys upstairs didn't like that too much. We weren't reassigned one."

The Charmed Ones laughed.

"How did you manage any cuts or bruises?" Paige pondered. She couldn't fathom living without someone to heal any wounds. "Potions?"

Sidney saw that they were looking at a sizeable section that was filled with healing and cosmetic potions. Mark Douglass's book of shadows was worlds apart from his wife's—there was little about demons, but bevies of potions and spells useful for everyday life. "Yes, there were potions that _helped _with the big ones, but we mostly went the old-fashioned way for the rest: Band-Aids and Neosporin."

"So, Sidney…you're an empath and you can do the whole animal power deal?" Piper asked.

Shaking his head, the boy closed his mom's book. "I'm still growing into my powers and I'm not sure if I'll become a completely functioning empathy. Now that we've decided to do the whole destiny thing, I'm not sure how that plays out either."

Rook squeezed through the already small doggy-door and went toward Paige. He rested his head on her lap and she smiled, rubbing his ears.

"I can read the thoughts of animals," Sidney continued, grinning at rook. "He likes you a lot Paige, by the way. And I'm beginning to be able to speak to them within our minds. As for my other power…my mom believes that I'll be able to have complete control like her. What I can do now is just take on traits of animals…not transform into them like she does. Like her, whenever I do take on an animal, I get their weaknesses too, but it's not so bad."

"God, that's so cool," Phoebe said in awe. She thought it was cute and was intrigued with someone who had been born to two witches. "How about you guys?"

"Well, Pheebs," Peter started smugly with a smile. "Unlike my boy Sid, mom was the witch and dad, well, wasn't. I got her power…it's teleportation, but I can only do it myself and not that far. We call it 'flashing'. With this power growing stuff, I'll probably turn into the personal teleport-taxi for the Coven. Kinda sucks that I don't have powers like Sid or Taylor."

"I can totally relate," Paige put in. Peter shot her a winking glance and she turned away, blushing. Her sisters looked at her as if shocked. "Oh, come on. If I were running on gas, I'd have made you two pay by the mile."

Phoebe felt she understood Peter's predicament with his power. Like him, she didn't begin with powers that she could use actively against demons. "How do fight against demons with just teleporting?"

"I fight," Peter said. "In my spare time, I do a little bit of street fighting. I picked up my own style."

He looked at Paige and smirked. He lowered his voice until it was barely audible. "_Doggy_-_style._"

"Peter!" Phoebe, Sidney, Taylor and Piper yelled, almost outraged. They all heard it.

Taylor grabbed onto Peter's shoulder and breathed in. She had covered the patch of his skin in ice". He shuddered and pulled away. "What!"

"I _deeply _apologize for my brother and his existence," Taylor began. "With me...I received my grandfather's powers, cyrokinesis. More plainly, it's controlling the cold: making ice, freezing things. It's nifty."

Phoebe looked at her older sister and nodded. "We've already seen you three fight those dog-eaters, but we want to see you in action right in front of our eyes."

"Our first demon was a warlock…old boyfriend actually, and he was pretty tough," Piper continued. "We had the Power of Three on our side and got rid of him with a Power of Three spell."

"We wanna see how you guys handle one by yourselves," Paige said. "We don't want you dying so soon."

Paige held on to her both her sisters' hands. They in turn touched the Coven who grabbed each other as well. In a flurry of blue lights and orbs, the six withes disappeared into the air.

The golden retriever whined sadly.

* * *

The Charmed Ones and the Coven reappeared in a cave corridor, illuminated by the lights of torches that were aligned on the wall. Sidney was spooked just a tad, but he was rather interested in where they are. Taylor and Peter grabbed each other's hands, as they had since they were young and looked warily. They smelled the scent of burnt flesh. Before anyone could speak, Piper held her finger to her lips. 

"We're in the Underworld," Piper whispered. "We scryed for a single warlock and found one here in the cavern up ahead. We're not going to help you unless you absolutely need it and the warlock will only see you three."

"To prevent him from blinking outside the room," Paige said as she took out a flask from her purse, "Throw this potion immediately."

"Go kick ass," Phoebe whispered excitedly as she hugged Sidney and Taylor. She patted Peter on the shoulder. Phoebe took out another potion and threw it on the ground. Slowly, but surely, the Charmed Ones disappeared from sight. Phoebe's voice was still audible. "Don't forget he'll still blink inside the room, so be careful, kids."

"I'm 25," Taylor whispered back, annoyed that she was called a kid along with others.

When the vial landed on the floor and broke, a blue plume of smoke rose in the air and rushed toward the lone warlock who was standing in a contemplative posture. He shook and dropped to the floor, then got back up.

"Who the hell are you three?" he asked. He blinked closer to them.

Taylor stepped forward, hand on her hip. "We're the Coven."

The warlock laughed and looked at the three with a questioning face. "And who the hell is 'the Coven'?"

"We're the witches who are going to vanquish your sorry ass," Sidney told him. He fluttered his eyes and opened them wide, revealing a pair of cat's eyes. He licked his newly grown fangs.

"Whatever, I don't have time for you," he laughed as he held his hand up, forming a ball of energy.

Peter flashed toward him and threw a hard punch, which grounded the warlock. He was in a bit of a daze, amazed that someone could punch him hard enough to fall to the ground. He tried to blink out to retrieve more of his comrades but found that he couldn't. "God, damn."

The warlock got up quickly and blinked to the corner. He threw an energy ball at Sidney, but he had dived forward, rolling. Sidney got up and sent his palm lashing out, scratching up the warlock's face. As the warlock was stunned, Sidney back flipped and landed on his palms and feet. The demon immediately threw another energy ball at the boy, but Taylor had quickly formed a weak shield of ice around him. The ball penetrated the shield, leaving weaker, but it still hit Sidney, who flew backward. Thankfully, he landed on his feet, but still burned.

"Pete!" Taylor yelled, signaling her brother to keep the warlock busy. Peter nodded and flashed behind the demon. Quickly crouching, Pete tripped his target and got back up to drop the back of his foot on the warlock's face. Before he was going to repeat the same action, the warlock grabbed his foot and twisted it. Peter flipped and fell to the ground.

Sidney looked at Taylor, who was standing in place concentrating. The air began to get thin and cold. He quickly scanned his brain for spell. He spat it out quickly, stuttering on his way. His nerves always kicked in at the wrong time.

_"A veil over your sight  
A veil over your mind  
To all sounds you are deaf  
To all sights you are blind."_

The warlock stopped in his place and gasped. He put up his arms and flailed blindly. The spell had worked.

"Taylor, go!" Pete said flashing near the demon. Sidney pounced to the location as well.

Lifting her arms toward her target, the witch breathed outward. A small breeze picked up near the warlock and surrounded him. From his feet, ice formed and built upward until he was encased in ice. Taylor fell to her knees and held herself up weakly with her arms. Sidney fluttered his eyes once again and took on the trait of the strong-legged zebra. The boys nodded at each other.

Both taking two steps forward, the lifted their right legs and performed a spinning back kick. Once their feet made contact with the ice, it shattered leaving a pile of frozen shards and flesh.

The Coven heard more glass break and looked behind them. The Charmed Ones came out from their invisibility. They were silently clapping and smiling.

"Now that's what I call style," Paige commented.

Phoebe slyly smiled and stifled a bit of laughter. "_Doggy-style_?"

Everyone shot a look at her, even Peter. "Phoebe!"


	5. Red Faces

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

_Chapter 5: Red Faces_

"Why are you pushing this Paige thing?" Taylor asked her brother as she drained the sink. Wiping her hands dry of dishwater, the girl filled a glass with tap water and drank. The two hadn't been in their apartment since the day before and they now had the rare chance to relax. Taylor, so adamant about her blonde hair kept in a neat ponytail, had her locks down. There seemed to be a natural glow to her face that was usually taken away with her red-framed glasses.

Peter Cross flipped through a couple more channels before paying attention to his sister. Daytime television was his secret vice. There was always a spark of enjoyment whenever he watched Maury tell people their paternity results. He answered her effortlessly. "Charmed One or no, I always get the girl."

His sister scoffed and took off the wet apron that was trimmed in a vegetable print. "You never tried so hard with any other girl."

"I never had to try," he replied. It was more or less true. Almost every girl he fancied came to him without hesitation. Peter semi-joked that it was his other power, but the rest of his Coven always wondered if it was. Taylor flopped down on the couch next to her younger sibling.

"If Dad was alive," Taylor pondered aloud. "Would he think we made the right decision? This whole destiny thing?"

There was a pause. The two both thought about it seriously. "He probably would've handled it better than Sid's parental units."

"I guess," she sighed. "But you would think that with parents like his…they would be more supporting."

"I guess since Mrs. Douglass got pregnant," Peter started. "The whole demon-attracting thing would be a bit dangerous on their side."

"Mrs. Douglass is pregnant?" Taylor asked surprised. She was best friends with Sidney, she would've known.

Peter raised his eyebrows then bit his lips. "Woops…I found a pregnancy test in their bathroom."

"What were you doing in their bathroom?" Taylor asked, getting ready to either punch her brother or ice a part of him.

Peter felt a bit bad for doing what he did. His face turned red. "I needed some condoms."

He felt an icy sting on his forearm. "Hey, we both know I'm broke as hell."

* * *

The crisp autumn air bit at Sidney's pale face. Like his mother, whenever it was cold, or he was angry, or embarrassed, or the least bit tipsy, his nose and ears were extremely red. He didn't like it, but everyone else thought it was cute. After sniffling just a little, the boy hugged his new replacement jean jacket and smiled at his discovery of a rare empty bench. His eyes wandered to the northern end of the quad where all his friends were eating. That day, he didn't feel much like socializing after spending most of his energy fighting a single warlock. Besides, he still had his cat fangs (he spent the first half of school tactfully hiding them). 

"Hey, stranger," said a familiar voice. Sidney felt a hand on his shoulder. "Got tired of your Abercrombie flunkies?"

The red-faced junior looked up and smiled, keeping his full lips over his sharpened teeth. It was Jeffrey Fiorello, one of Sidney's few senior friends. Jeff wasn't like most of his friends—lower-middle class, a tad unpopular and wasn't too school-smart. Sid supposed what made Jeff different from everyone else he hung out with was rather appealing to him. Plus, he had a faint, but really cool (at least to Sidney) New York accent. Jeff, who was almost 19 years old, took a seat next to the boy. Sidney, who was already regarded as tall at 6 feet, felt dwarfed by his friend. Jeff, who had light brown hair and hazel eyes, stood at a towering 6'5".

"Yeesh, you're red," Jeff said, taking a good look at his friend's face. It would seem that he wasn't affected by the cold as much as Sidney was—he was wearing a short-sleeved band shirt, jeans and flip-flops. Sidney frowned and looked away so he could talk and not show his fangs. Though he had control of himself when he took on an animal, some of the physical traits took a while to go away. (One time, he had floppy dog-ears that took a week to go away when he was 14. His parents said that he was in France getting surgery done).

Hand over his mouth, Sidney tried to explain. "It's an Asian thing, I guess."

Jeff laughed and put his arm around Sidney, who felt initially uncomfortable. He rarely was affectionate with his friends, and when he was, it was only with girls, but for some reason, he felt okay. He felt safe. After a few seconds, Sidney rested his head on his friend's chest and listened to Jeff breath. For just one moment, he closed his eyes and took in the warmth.

"It don't look too bad," Jeff started, speaking softly with a hint of nervousness. "Hell, it's, you know, cute."

Though Sidney couldn't see it, Jeff was a bit red too. Sidney was even redder.

* * *

The empty living room of Victor Bennett was illuminated in blue light. Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo appeared in the center. The four seemed to be rather nervous. Piper looked around and stepped forward. 

"Dad?" she called out. She heard laughing in the nearby kitchen. Her eyes began to water.

More laughing came from the kitchen. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her father came out, covered in baby food. "Piper?"

The three sisters ran to Victor and gave him a group hug, their voices inaudibly mixing in with one another. They didn't care that their clothes were getting stained with pureed carrots.

Victor didn't' know what to say. He stumbled for the words and finally spat out, "I thought you girls…were gone."

"Like that has ever stopped us before," Phoebe said, crying. "We'll explain everything later…but first—"

Leo stepped forward with a big, anxious smile. He looked like a boy who couldn't' wait to get on his first amusement park ride. "Where are our boys?"

Victor smiled back and pointed to the swinging wooden door that led to his kitchen. Piper and Leo joined hands and went in, taking deep breaths. It felt as if anything could be behind there.

In a high seat sat a baby with dark hair, clad in blue fleece. His face was covered with food as was his brother. The blonde toddler was standing on a chair with a spoon, laughing away. They both shared the same smile and faces stained red from mashed cranberries. That smile got bigger when they heard the voices they've been waiting to hear for a long time.


	6. Twinkie

**The Coven: Destiny**

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

_Chapter 6: Twinkie_

"Sid," Jenna Stein started. "Going to feed with us?"

The petite, dark haired little princess was the daughter of Dr. Harvey Stein, the city's most sought-after plastic surgeon. Naturally, she wasn't a pretty girl, but it would seem that all her status, her clothes and make-up smoothed things over. She was the one that recently "recruited" Sidney Douglass into the elite social ring after he was deemed cool enough to join. He was always seen as peculiar, a loner kind of, but after Sidney's dad saved Mr. Stein from a horrendous malpractice suit, he jumped up from peculiar to acceptable.

Sidney was caught off guard, recovering form a little daze. He was still slightly red, remembering lunch time sitting with Jeff. School had just ended and he just recalled that he had to go make potions to prepare for an attack. His fangs were, thankfully, gone. "Oh, I wish I could. I gotta head home and do some stuff."

"You whore," she joked, placing her hand on his shoulder. She continued conversing with the rest of the clique as student after student passed by to catch their bus or head to their car. Sidney pretended to laugh, but his eye was caught by Jeff, who was rather easy to spot since he probably was the tallest boy at the school. Everyone always assumed he was on the basketball team.

Sidney frowned slightly as the buses sped off, leaving Jeff in the dust.

* * *

"What lies in your vision, Seer?" asked the cloaked demon, who paced. It must have been 200 degrees in the room, but it didn't matter—everyone there was a demon. "Why can I not ascend to the surface? The Charmed Ones are dead." 

"The Charmed Ones may be dead," the Seer began, eyes never blinking. She was the latest Seer to rise after the last one was killed by Zankou. "But a new force of great good has taken their place and with their existence, you still cannot resurface, Master."

"More witches!" he asked angrily. The flames on the torches grew immensely. "I should have came up right after I received news of their death."

"Yes. New ones," the Seer told him. She was very beautiful—pale skin, defined features, blazing red eyes and long black hair. She was covered in a red, sheer leotard, black cloth covering her breasts and a sarong over her legs. Brilliant jewels were on her neck. "You shouldn't fret, however."

"And why not?" he asked, calming down. He slumped down on a throne made of gold. "Why should I not worry? If I do manage to get out of this literal hell, they'll just end up banishing me to the Underworld once again like the damned grandmother of the Charmed Ones did to me."

"They are new," the Seer said. "They are without the legendary power of three. They're exceedingly…mortal."

The demon, face hidden by his hood, tapped his fingers on the throne's arms. "If they prove no threat, have them killed."

* * *

"Where is he?" Peter asked impatiently as he peeled the leaves off various flowers. It was already 2:50 in the afternoon. School let out at 1:30. He muttered something bitterly about always being the one doing the grunt work. It was apparent that Peter did not enjoy potion making. Taylor, on the other hand… 

"Well, Pete, I called his cell and it's off," Taylor explained, grinding roots in a pewter bowl. She let the sweet aroma come to her, making her close her eyes and enjoy it immensely. Every Friday, the Coven would come to the Douglass home to make potions for the following week as it has a bevy of ingredients then a dinner. Taylor always looked forward to coming. She felt that brewing up the concoctions was one of the most important things to being a witch. "Just let him go, he'll be here. If not, then don't bother making the clouding potions. Let him do it himself."

Misono Douglass was watching the Cross siblings carefully as she chewed on a carrot, paying special attention to Peter. He was inexperienced and, plainly, a very bad person to ask to make potions. She felt it rather necessary to be there, just in case.

"Peter, dispose of the leaves," Mrs. Douglass called out ass he saw the young man going through a batch of what looked light red berries and their leaves. There was still a faint Japanese accent in her voice. "Even a little bit of nightshade leaves mixed in with any disabling potion causes the mixture to explode."

"Are you like retarded?" Taylor teased her brother.

* * *

Rolling his eyes, Peter carefully separated the red berries of the deadly plant. The phone rang, and to save himself from doing any more, he got up to answer it. He watched as Mrs. Douglass went to his sister and started chatting. He read in Taylor's diary that she was almost like a second mother to her. The kind she wanted—a witch mother. 

Peter hung up the phone and went back to his seat, sadly. "Sid's not coming home for another hour. Says he's out with a friend."

"He knows it's Friday," Taylor began, wondering who he was out with. She was hoping it wasn't one of the airheads with a credit card. Mrs. Douglass was silent.

"So Sidney's out, probably with a hot rich chick, doing god knows what and I'm here peeling leaves," the dark-haired waiter complained.

Taylor looked to her side and slowed her grinding. She bit her lip and wondered who Sidney really was out with.

The inside of Sidney's Aston Martin was filled with laughter as it sat parked outside a gas station. The people that passed by looked curiously at the car and wondered what could be so funny.

"I should miss the bus more often, eh?" Jeff said, trying not to choke on a twinkie.

Sidney nodded as he took a sip of his cherry Icee. "Definitely. I don't have this much fun with my other friends."

"'Cause they're tight-asses," Jeff said. He wasn't apologetic about it, which Sidney admired. He was, for the most part, right. "You're too cool for them, you know."

Sidney blushed and looked out the window. "Err…thanks."

The laughing died down and Jeff got serious (after finishing the final piece of his pastry). "Why are you friends with 'em?"

"I don't really know…" Sidney said, turning down the volume of the car's radio. "I never really had friends except my...group and it felt nice to be accepted. They're not the best people in the world, but it's better than not having friends at all."

Jeff looked into Sidney's green eyes, almost mesmerized by them. "Well, if you ever do decide to ditch those suckers, you always got me."

The 16-year-old nodded and bit his lower lip. "Thank you."

Taking his hands off the wheel, Sidney turned to the senior and smiled with his pearly whites. Even with Taylor and Peter, he had never felt safer. It seemed that the rest of the world didn't matter 'cause all that existed was in his car. Jeff, who was a tad hunched to prevent his head from hitting the ceiling, reached over and moved a couple strands of black hair from his eyes. Feeling as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest, Sidney pulled away and put on his seat belt. Very smoothly, Jeff did the same, scratching the back of his head.

"Ooh, it's late," Sidney said eye on the clock. "Wanna head home?"

"Uh, yeah," Jeff replied, looking out the window, awkwardly. "Just head to Alabaster and Jones."

The ride there was filled with an awkward silence, both of the boys fighting off smiles.

* * *

By 5:00 pm, Sidney Douglass had arrived in his house eyes on the ceiling, walking to the kitchen almost dancing. Rook joined his side and barked, but he couldn't hear it. His face was red and it seemed his smile was screwed onto his beaming face. His parents and the rest of the Coven were in the kitchen, watching him in wonder. 

"Welcome home, son," Mark said, eyebrows raised curiously. "How…was your day?"

Sidney, still glowing, sat in an empty seat in the kitchen table. Taylor was next to him, looking at him. Sidney sighed and went, "It was just fine."

"Very good," Mark said. He took a banana from the fruit bowl on the island counter, kissed his wife and headed toward the stairs. The empathic lawyer would have tried to read his son if everyone there hadn't taken a potion to block any readings. "I have to look over a case for a bit, but I'll come down for dinner. Your mom and I have a _big _surprise."

"Uh-huh," Mr. Douglass' son replied, completely ignoring what he said.

"You know, Sid," Peter started. "When you convinced us to take on this job, it would seem logical for you to…take part of it."

"Sorry," he answered. "I'll finish whatever you didn't finish."

"Good," his mother said. She began to speak in Japanese, scolding him. "You have to straighten out your priorities, Sidney. You can't go gallivanting with friends all the time when you have more pressing duties to take care of first."

Sidney, who was quite proficient in speaking his mother's language (while writing and reading is a different matter), nodded and replied in Japanese. "I know. It won't happen a lot, I swear."

Misono set the timer for an hour and a half and walked to the living room to read. Peter walked over to the oven and opened both of the doors, basically slobbering. He looked forward to Friday at the Douglass' for a much more different reason than Taylor: the food.

"Where were you, Sidney?" Taylor whispered. Her voice was lowered enough so that Peter couldn't here. Her brother knew that they were secretly talking, but he was courteous enough to acknowledge that it was a private matter. "And _with who_?"

Sidney smiled and shrugged coyly. His best friend was and always will be Taylor Cross, but for now…he thought that it was nice to have something for himself. "I was out. With a friend. Eating twinkies."


End file.
